Gas refill cartridge



Feb. 17, 1970 H. Lowx-:NTHAL ETAL 3,495,739

GAS REFILL GARLlmR-IDGE Filed nec. 2s. 1967 United States Patent()3,495,739 GAS REFILL CARTRIDGE Hans Lowenthal, Kensington, London, andWilliam Retzler, Wickham, England, assignors to Colibri LightersLimited, London, England, a British company Filed Dec. 26, 1967, Ser.No. 693,498 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Jan. 11, 1967,1,484/ 67 Int. Cl. B65d 3/00, 83/00; B67b 7/24 U.S. Cl. 222-3 1 ClaimABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE One common kind of compressed gas refillcartridge -for use in refilling the fuel reservoirs of gas burningcigarette lighters has a shell with a neck fitted with a closure valvewhich incorporates a closure member that is yurged by a spring onto aseating to close the valve. The closure member can be forced off itsseating, to open the valve, by an axial force directed into the neck ofthe cartridge, such force being provided in use `by the reaction betweenengaging parts of the valve and cigarette lighter when the cartridge isfitted to the fuel reservoir inlet of a cigarette lighter during arefueling operation.

In cartridges of this kind it has previously been usual for the spring,which urges the closure member towards its seating, and in effectlocates the valve mechanism in position, to take its reaction from adisc which is a jam fit within a tubular collar which projects as anextension of the neck into the shell. The provision of the collar anddisc lead to appreciably costly production and assembly steps but a moreserious objection is that the existence of the collar prevents thecartridge from being completely emptied. This is because the collarprojects freely into the shell as solid tube, both in order to providesufficient strength and resilience to support the disc, and to avoid thecomplex tooling operations which would be necessary to provide thecollar with ports. As a result when the cartridge is inverted neckdownwards in the refueling position an annular internal trough is formedin the shell around the collar and liquefied gaseous fuel cannot escapefrom the trough as the only way into the cartridge neck is through thecollar.

In accordance with the present invention the shell of v a cartridge ofthe kind described is formed in two parts which are secured together,one of the shell parts being formed with a neck and providing a housingfor the valve closure member and its seating and the second shell partproviding the reaction for the closure member spring. In this way thedisc and collar may be eliminated thus providing a saving in the cost ofthe cartridge and enabling the cartridge to be completely emptied.

The spring may take its reaction either directly or indirectly from anabutment or abutments, such as an annular shoulder on the second shellpart or it may take its reaction from the wall of the second shell partopposite to the neck. Thus, in the usual case in which the shell isbottle shaped, standing normally with its neck uppermost, the first andsecond shell parts will be upper and lower shell parts. There areadvantages in then proice viding the junction vbetween the -upper andlower shell parts around the peripheral wall of the bottle, possibly atthe bottom but preferably nearer to the top of the bottle.

One convenient way of providing a shoulder on the lower Shell part isthen to arrange for the internal width of the lower shell part to beslightly less: than the internal width of the upper shell part, at theannular junction between the two shell parts, so that an internalannular shoulder is formed around the upper part of the lower shellpart. Since this shoulder will normally have a larger, in the case of acircular bottle, diameter than the area of the closure member over whichthe spring applies its loading to the closure member, specialarrangements must be made to interpose the spring between the shoulderand the closure member. In one case: the spring is a spirally helicallycoiled compression spring the narrower end of which engages the closuremember and the larger end of which sits on the shoulder. In analternative form an annular washer rests in the shell with its edge onthe shoulder and a helically coiled compression spring, which isinterposed between the washer and the closure member, is located inposition by a stem extending downwards from the closure member. Inanother example, the spring may be formed integrally with the closuremember from a resilient plastics material. This integral spring may be aring which rests on the annular shoulder and is connected to the closuremember by a number of resilient webs.

If the spring takes its reaction from the bottom wall of the lower shellpart, in the case of a bottle shaped cartridge, the bottom wall of thelower shell part preferably has a central upward protrusion within thecartridge. This protrusion enables a relatively short spring, such as ahelically coiled compression spring, to be used, and may provide apositive lateral location for the end of the spring remote from theclosure member. The upward protrusion preferably has a thin wall,similarly to the rest of the shell, so that a correspondingly shapedrecess is provided in the underside of the bottom lwall of the shell. Ifthis recess is shaped substantially complementary to the shape of theouter surface of the neck of the shell, a number of the cartridges canbe stacked neatly one on top of the other. The recess may also be usedto accommodate lighter accessories, such as replacement flints, cleaningbrushes etc.

The shell parts of the cartridge may be made of any suitable materialbut plastics materials are preferred because they can be readily mouldedto appropriate shapes. The two parts of the shell may be secured andsealed together Iby a separate junction piece, adhesives, or any of theconventional thermoplastic welding techniques. The two shell parts will-be secured together after assembly of the valve mechanism and if thetwo shell parts are to be secured together by spin welding, a force ispreferably applied into the .neck of the rst shell part to hold thevalve closure member olf its seating during the welding operationotherwise damage may occur to the valve mechanism as a result ofdifferent parts of the mechanism receiving relative frictional torquefrom the two relatively rotating shell parts.

Three examples of cartridges constructed in accordance with the presentinvention are illustrated in FIGURES 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawingswhich are central vertical sections, with some parts broken away andparts in elevation.

In each case the cartridge has a bottle shaped shell formed by upper andlower plastic mouldings 4 and 5 of circular section, which, afterinsertion of the valve mechanism, are welded together at substantiallythe position of maximum diameter of the bottle. The upper shell part 4is formed with a hollow neck 6 leading to an externally screw threadedtubular spigot 7. An annular sealing washer 8 is located in the neck 6beneath a downwardly facing shoulder at the top of the neck and forms aseating for a valve closure member 9 which is movable upwards anddownwards within the neck 6 and is formed integrally with upper andlower stems 10 and 11. The stern 10 has a circular section and the innerwall of the spigot 7 has a square section.

In the FIGURE 1 example the lower end of the stern 11 is located in atubular guide 12 formed integrally with an integral upward protrusion 13of the lower shell part S. A helically coiled compression spring 14surrounds the stem 11 and is trapped between the upper edge of `theguide 12 and the underside of the closure member 9. The spring 14,taking a reaction from the guide 12, normally holds the closure member 9on its seating 8 to seal the outlet through the neck 6 and the spigot 7.In use the cartridge is inverted and the spigot 7 screwed into acomplementary internally screw threaded inlet socket of the fuelreservoir of a gas burning cigarette lighter. The socket will contain aplunger which enters the spigot 7, engages the end of the stem 10, andpushes the closure member 9 off its seating against the action of thespring 14 as the cartridge is screwed into the socket. The liquefied gasin the cartridge is then free to flow out of the cartridge around theclosure member 9, and along the four passageways formed around the stem10 in the spigot 7 into the lighter reservoir. When the cartridge issubscquently unscrewed from the inlet socket of the lighter reservoir,the valve closure member 9 returns to its seating under the action ofthe spring 14 to reseal the cartridge.

The protrusion 13 in the case of the lower shell part provides a recess15 in the base of the cartridge. This recess has a similar shape to theexternal configuration of the neck 6 and spigot 7 so that two identicalcartridges can be stacked closely one on top of the other.

In the FIGURE 2 example, at least the lower shell part 5 is made oftranslucent plastic material and is marked with graduations 16 so thatthe level of liquefied fuel in the container can be read, thegraduations representing units of volume necessary for refuelingparticular lighter reservoirs.

In this example the closure member 9 is urged on to its seating by aspirally helically coiled compression spring 17 the upper narrower endof which surrounds the stem 11 and abuts against the underside of theclosure member 9 and the larger diameter lower end of which sits on andtakes a reaction from a shoulder 18 formed by part of the upper edge oftthe lower shell part 5 overlapping the inner surface of the upper shellpart 4.

In the third example, the closure member 9 is urged against its seatingby a helically coiled compression spring 19 which takes its reactionindirectly from the shoulder 18 through the intermediary of a washer 20which rests on the shoulder 20. The washer 20 has a central hole 21through which the stem 11 can move upon movement of the closure member 9and the lower end of the spring 19 abuts the washer 20 around the hole21. In this case, the closure member 9 and then stems 10 and 11 aremanufactured integrally with one another as a long drawn brass eyelet.

We claim:

1. In a gas refill cartridge for use in refilling the fuel reservoirs ofgas burning cigarette lighters and adapted to contain liquefied fuel gasunder pressure, said cartridge having a shell defining a neck, and aclosure valve fitted within said neck and incorporating a seat, aclosure member, and a spring surrounding a part of said closure memberand urging said closure member onto said seat whereby said closuremember can be forced off said seat to open said valve by an axial forcedirected into said neck of said cartridge, the improvement in which saidshell comprises first and second parts and means securing said first andsecond parts together, said first shell part defining said neck andproviding a housing for said valve closure member and said seat and saidsecond shell part having an upwardly protruding base wall, the externalsurface of said base wall defining a socket and the internal surface ofsaid base wall providing a reaction surface for said closure memberspring and defining means for centering the inner ends of said closuremember and spring.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,201,012 8/1965 Malglaive222-501 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,227,980 4/ 1960 France. 819,227 10/ 1937France. 250,616 9/1912 Germany. 782,114 9/ 1957 Great Britain. 413,71412/1966 Switzerland.

SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner H. S. LANE, Assistant Examiner U.S.Cl. X.R. 222-402.25, 518

